American History and Genealogy Project

Bayoone Incorporated - City Services

1866 - 1872

Incorporated as a City - Charter Submitted to the People -
Newspaper Extracts - First City Officials - Last Meeting of
Township Committee Men - Organization of City Government -
Important Ordinances - Assessed Valuation of Property in 1869 -
Public Improvements - First Police Chief - First Annual Tax
Assessment - Organization of Fire Department - First Sewer Main

The steady growth of population in the
Township of Bayonne, which in 1865 numbered 1,700, was thought
by the majority to warrant a charter for a city government.
Accordingly, a few years later, after a little effort on the
part of certain individuals, "An act to incorporate the city of
Bayonne" was passed by the Legislature, and approved March 10,
1869.

The city was divided into three wards,
and power was vested in the Mayor and Council to increase the
number of wards. The charter provided for the election of a
Mayor and Recorder as city officials, and for the election in
each ward, as ward officers, of two Councilmen, a Constable,
Pound-Keeper, Commissioner of Appeals, Tax Assessor,1
and three Inspectors of Election; also a School Trustee in each
ward. By the charter, the school trustees of the several wards
were constituted and called a Board of Education.2

On Friday, March 19, 1869, the new
charter of the city was submitted to the people, and was
ratified by a vote of 225 to 34.

Newspaper Extracts.

The following item appeared in the New
York "Times," Saturday, March 20, 1869:

"The charter for the city of Bayonne was
ratified yesterday by a popular vote, 225 having voted for it,
to 34 against. The new city consists of the neck of land known
as Bergen Point, and embraces a population of 4,000 souls. The
charter provides for the election of a Mayor and Aldermen every
two years. The city is divided into three wards, and will have
four or five special Constables."

In the Jersey City "Evening Journal" of
Monday, March 29, 1869, this paragraph is found:

"The new city stands so appalled at the
sudden greatness thrust upon it, a stake with plentiful
condiments, spring birds, springing frogs and in one word,
sprung rum, that movements for the corporative officers are very
slow."

Apparently, from old newspaper accounts, chicken thieving was
practiced very frequently. In the "Evening Journal" (Jersey
City) of March 4, 1869, there appears:

"Chicken thieves are still numerous in
this neighborhood. Two darkies were found at this game, night
before last, one of whom had his coattail shot off. 'Nigger
Bill' swears he don't like fowl any more, give him soft clams."

On March 12, in the same paper, the
author finds: "A police is wanted to protect the inhabitants
from chicken thieving, which is principally laid to the account
of the darkies infecting what is called the 'Negro settlement.'
"

Horse racing was a chief sport. The
Plank Road was the scene of many a lively contest. In the Jersey
City "Evening Journal" of Monday, March 29, 1869, is found this:

"Racing, this sport, so gratifying to
the sporters but terrifying to youngsters, was lively on the
Plank road yesterday.

Several accidents occurred which did not
result in any material damage. Why not take the back road?"

The following is an item which also
appeared about this time in the "Hudson County Times":

"A milkman in Hudson City has adopted a
new and somewhat novel method of giving his customers fresh
milk. He drives his cows from door to door and allows each to
milk the required amount and then water and chalk to suit their
taste."

City Government.

The first election under the original
city charter was held Tuesday, April 13, 1869. The following
were elected:

On April 26, 1869 (then beginning of the
Councilmanic term according to the charter), the Mayor and
Councilmen-elect assembled at Carragan's Hall (called Council
Hall), at Avenue D and what was then Twenty-seventh Street (now
Twenty-second), for the purpose of organizing in compliance with
the charter, and a thorough organization was effected.

In June, the following ordinance was
passed: "An Ordinance

"To fix the Salaries of Officers, for
the year ending the first Monday of May, 1870. "The Mayor and Council of the City of Bayonne do ordain as
follows:

"Sec. I. There shall be paid to the
several officers named in this section, the following annual
salaries, to be paid in quarterly installments, to wit:

"To the Recorder for the first, being
the present year, the sum of three hundred dollars; for the
second year, the sum of four hundred dollars; for the third year
the sum of five hundred dollars. "To the City Clerk the sum of eight hundred dollars.
"To the Collector of Revenue, the sum of six hundred dollars.
"To the Treasurer, the sum of six hundred dollars.
"To the Corporation Attorney, the sum of two hundred dollars.

"Sec. 2. To the Judges of Election of
the several Wards, the sum of six dollars each, for their
services as rendered at each election.

"To the Ward Clerks of the several
Wards, the sum of seven and one-half dollars each, for their
services as rendered at each election. "To the Assessor of the First Ward, the sum of one hundred and
twenty-five dollars. "To the Assessor of the Second Ward, the sum of one hundred and
twenty-five dollars. "To the Assessor of the Third Ward, the sum of one hundred and
twenty-five dollars. "To the Commissioner of Appeals in cases of taxation, the sum of
five dollars for each day employed. "To the Board of Commissioners of Assessments shall be paid the
sum of ten dollars for each assessment to be assessed upon the
property included in each assessment for which the services are
rendered.

"Passed June 11, 1869.

"Approved June 15, 1869.

"Attest: F. L Smith, ClerkHenry Meigs, Mayor

By an ordinance passed June 22, 1869, the first Board of Health
was created in the city.

About this time it was deemed necessary
to have police to patrol the city. An ordinance was passed there
for, on August 31, 1869, to establish and regulate a Police
Department. A few months later, George B. Whitney was appointed
Chief of Police. Michael Connolley and C. Van Horn were
appointed patrolmen by Mayor Meigs at the same time. This, then,
was the organization of the police force. The population had now
grown to 3,834.

The first annual tax assessment
(exclusive of poll tax) under city charter for the year ending
May 4, 1870, was .fixed by ordinance passed in September, 1869,
and amounted to $31,620. It was composed of the following:
Payment of interest, $4,935; payment of salaries, $3,335;
printing, $1,000; public schools, $8,000; street repairs,
$5,000; support of poor, $500; Map and Grade Commission, $5,000;
day and night police, $2,100; city prison and lockup, $500;
election purposes, $150; public health, $100; contingent
expenses, $1,000.

On December 14, 1869, the Council
removed and first met to transact public business in the City
Hall room (Hendrickson's building) on Avenue D, corner of Maple
Avenue (now Thirty-first Street), and they continued to hold
their meetings at that place for the next five years.

The first Bayonne newspaper was the
"Bayonne Herald and Greenville Register," which was first issued
December 25, 1869, as a weekly, with Roswell Graves as editor.4

In the winter of 1869-70, Public School
No. 2, on Avenue D, between Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth
Streets, was erected at a cost of $12,000. No. 5 School at
Constable's Hook was also erected about this time, and was
opened for use in 1870.

In August, 1870, the "Hudson County
Times," weekly, was established and published at Bergen Point by
the Times Printing Company of Jersey City.5

In November, 1870, an ordinance was
passed "to Establish, Regulate and Control a Fire Department."
The first fire company was organized in Pamrapo, with a
membership of about thirty-five, and was called Truck I. "Hope
Hose" Company No. 2 (named after Col. Hope, of N. J. C. R. R.)
was organized soon after. This company occupied the former frame
school building which stood on the site of "Hudson" Company's
present building. It is now in the rear and used as a stable.
About the same time, the "Kid Glove" Chemical Engine Company,
No. I, was organized, and had their quarters in Schuyler Hall,
Bergen Point. The Fire Department in 1870, therefore, had three
apparatus, with a total of about one hundred and twenty men, and
was volunteer. Fire alarms were sounded by the church bells.
Steel locomotive tires, cut and hung by chains, were also struck
with sledge hammers; one being near the Thirty-third Street
station, another at "Hudson" Company's present building, and
another in Pamrapo.

The first sewer main was known as the
Cottage Street sewer, and was built in 1870-1871.

No. 4 School, on Fifth Street, was
erected shortly after No. 2, at a cost of $16,000, and was
opened in September, 1871. The old frame school house on Dodge
Street was then converted into an engine house. Shortly after
this School No. 3 was erected in Pamrapo on Centre Street, at a
cost of about $17,000. One thousand children attended the public
schools at this time.

From the time the city was surveyed and
laid out, in 1869, public improvements progressed very rapidly.
Streets and avenues were opened and graded, including the two
principal thoroughfares, Avenues D and C;6
sidewalks were flagged and curbed; crosswalks were laid; sewers
constructed, and gas pipes put through.

1.
It might be of interest to note here the taxable property in
1868:
Lands valued by the acre $2,021,000
Houses and lots valued at 604,750
Personal property 284,425
$2,910,175 2. First Directory and
Manual of Bayonne. 3. A copy of Mayor Meigs'
speech of acceptance, dated April 26, 1869, is among the
collections of the New Jersey Historical Society. 4. Now published at Bergen
Point as a weekly democratic paper. Owned and edited by Col. H.
C. Page. 5. Now published by* the
Bayonne Printing and Publishing Company (J. T. R. Proctor,
Editor) at Avenue D and Thirty-first Street, as a daily
republican paper, called the Bayonne "Daily Times." 6. An ordinance was
passed December 7, 1869, "to open, regulate and grade Avenue D
from Cottage Street to the Morris Canal." On June 21, 1870, an
ordinance was passed "to open, regulate and grade Avenue C from
North Avenue to the Morris Canal."

Source: First History of Bayonne, New
Jersey, by Royden Page Whitcomb, Published by R. P. Whitcomb, 24
East 37TH Street, Bayonne, N. J., 1904.